This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.)
CHINA TRADE,
CONFIDENTIAL.
[35893]
No. 1.
632
[October 14.]
SECTION 1.
Question asked in the House of Commons, October 14, 1908.
Mr. Rees, To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Edict of the Chinese Government banning the introduction into and manufacture and sale within the Empire of morphia and hypodermic appliances indicates that the suppres- sion of the use of opium implies recourse to other drugs in place thereof, and whether the Foreign Office is in possession of any information to show that this is the case.
Answer by Mr. Pease (for Sir Edward Grey),
The prohibition of the general importation of morphia into China, except on certain conditious, was agreed to by His Majesty's Government in Article 11 of the The stipulation Commercial Treaty between China and Great Britain of 1902. contained in that Article, that the prohibition should only come into force on all other Treaty Powers agreeing to its conditions, has, however, only recently been fulfilled. The Edict has, therefore, no direct connection with the measures adopted for the suppression of the use of opium. Whether the suppression of the use of opium în China, if successfully accomplished, would have, to any extent, the effect indicated in the question is a matter on which my right honourable friend cannot express an opinion. It is not implied in the Edict.
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